Becoming A Death Eater
by MissSadieKane
Summary: A collection of nine 100-word drabbles showing snippets of Regulus's life as he became a Death Eater, from the time he put up the newspaper clippings in his bedroom to when he lends Kreacher to the Dark Lord. AU, as Regulus is a spy.
_Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter._

 _AN: A collection of 100 word challenges, written for hillstars 'Character Appreciation Challenge' on HPFC, Regulus Black week: each drabble is exactly 100 words excluding the titles. This is from an AU where Regulus decides to be a spy._

 **Bedroom Décor:**

Newspaper articles littered the walls: documentation of every Death Eater attack, every person gone missing and every death. His parents thought he was idolising them, the same way his brother admired the Muggle girls he'd stuck all over the walls two years ago. However, Regulus wasn't. Every article was evidence. They all added to the lists of ideas Regulus had and they all helped to tell the story of the Death Eater's overall game. Regulus had spent a lot of the time over the summer just studying them, figuring out what they would do next and who they would attack.

…..

 **Decision:**

When it came to the Death Eaters, Regulus knew he had to join. There was no question of it – it was just what was expected of him, like it was expected that he would marry whichever Pureblood girl his family expected him to. Sirius had already disgraced their family enough by running away, and there was no way he was going to let his family lose their reputation any more. Besides, Bellatrix had already told the Dark Lord that he would be joining. If he didn't follow through, his whole family would be in danger. The decision was already made.

…..

 **Dark Mark:**

To say taking the Dark Mark was painful was an understatement. It had taken all the strength Regulus had had not to scream. He and Evan Rosier had been brought before the Dark Lord for the first time since they'd been coming to the meetings by Bellatrix. It was she who had instigated them meeting the Dark Lord himself, who usually didn't bother with the junior Death Eaters. However, to the Dark Lord, the two youngest cousins of his most faithful servant had potential that he wanted to exploit. Coming to initiate them in person would surely solidify their trust.

…..

 **Hopeless:**

After the first few meetings as a true Death Eater, Regulus felt hopeless. He had been naïve to think he could bring the Death Eaters down from the inside. He couldn't. He'd had to break all ties with his Hufflepuff friends just to keep Bellatrix from finding them through Legilimency. He'd always been hopeless at Occlumency. There was no way he could contact them with information without his cousin Bellatrix finding out. It was too risky. It was better to keep his head down and think of a way to minimise the damage without getting himself and his friends killed.

…..

 **Background:**

Regulus didn't know whether to be glad or disappointed that he wasn't allowed any of the action in the Death Eater raids. On the one hand he was pleased that he wouldn't have to kill anyone – he'd been terrified that he'd be asked to hurt or kill anyone at all, never mind someone he knew, like an Order member. On the other hand there was nothing he could do to manipulate the fights or gather information to help his friends on the other side of the war, and the humiliation that Bellatrix had told everyone he was incompetent at duelling.

…..

 **Healing:**

One of Bellatrix's arguments for keeping Regulus out of the fighting had actually been for one of his talents. Although never rising high in the ranks of the Duelling club, Regulus, who'd previously had ambitions to become a healer, had attended extra-curricular healing classes whilst at Hogwarts. While he'd attended the classes with the idea that they'd help him get onto the St. Mungo's healing course, he'd had no idea that the Dark Lord would find them useful. However, when he saw the injuries his Slytherin friends came back from the raids with, he realised why his talent was important.

…..

 **Listening:**

The good thing about being on the side-lines was that often Regulus was around but unnoticed when the Dark Lord mentioned his plans. He found that he was usually overlooked and that no one suspected him when it became obvious that the Aurors had found out about something he'd been privy to. It was during a meeting, as he quietly tended to a wound of Rodolphus', that he overheard the Dark Lord discussing his plans for immortality. He had also heard him discuss hiding several objects of importance with his inner circle, one of which would be hidden by Bellatrix.

…..

 **Brewing:**

The Dark Lord had asked Regulus to brew a potion. The finished product: a green liquid that would cause the drinker to relive their worst memories and leave them incredibly thirsty also had the power to become a barrier. The only reason he could think of to use the potion would be as a defence, but he didn't know why the Dark Lord was asking _him_ to brew it. How could the Dark Lord trust him with such a task? He hadn't even been on any raids. And surely Snape, by far more competent than him, would have been better.

…..

 **Kreacher:**

When he'd lent him his House Elf, Regulus hadn't expected the Dark Lord to make Kreacher drink the potion he'd just brewed – Regulus knew exactly how bad that potion was, but the Dark Lord had never respected House Elves, even ones from Pureblood families. However, the rest of Kreacher's story only increased Regulus's suspicions of what the Dark Lord was doing with regards to immortality. Why would anyone go to such lengths to protect a _locket_ if it didn't contain something infinitely more important? Like one's sole. Regulus needed to do more research and see if his suspicions were correct.


End file.
